


Building Bridges

by RobinRoost



Series: Surviving Apart, but Living Together [6]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Anakin Is Confused, Anakin Skywalker Gets a Hug, Battle of Christophsis, Battle of Teth, Bender Obi-Wan Kenobi, Bending, Everyone is so confused, Fluff, Force Bond (Star Wars), Gen, Implied Jango Fett Lives, Kenobi Luck, Morse Code, Obi-Wan Kenobi Gets a Hug, Quinlan Vos is a Good Friend, Quinlan loves to mess with people, Tagging as I go, but a total troll, but he figures out what's up, no one else does though
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-21
Updated: 2021-02-22
Packaged: 2021-03-09 04:15:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,169
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27127753
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RobinRoost/pseuds/RobinRoost
Summary: Obi-Wan could only vaguely hear Ahsoka’s response over the sound of his own heart pounding. General Skywalker was Anakin. He was going to meet Anakin. He barely managed to restrain his excited giggle. Quin gave him a knowing look from the side, but he ignored it.The bay door opened, and for a moment, Obi-Wan couldn’t see anything, but then everything came into focus.There were three men standing a little ways off from the shuttle. Two of them were clones, painted yellow and blue respectively. Each stood at perfect attention, but Obi-Wan ignored them in favor of the man that stood between them.
Relationships: Anakin Skywalker & Ahsoka Tano, Anakin Skywalker & Quinlan Vos, CC-2224 | Cody & CT-7567 | Rex, CC-2224 | Cody & Obi-Wan Kenobi, CT-7567 | Rex & Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi & Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi & Clone Troopers, Obi-Wan Kenobi & Quinlan Vos
Series: Surviving Apart, but Living Together [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1969477
Comments: 149
Kudos: 560





	1. OBI-WAN

**Author's Note:**

> This is gonna be multiple chapters

“Welcome to Christophsis! Sunny, with a low chance of clankers. Looks like General Skywalker is going to meet you up ahead.”

Obi-Wan could only vaguely hear Ahsoka’s response over the sound of his own heart pounding. General Skywalker was Anakin. He was going to meet Anakin. He barely managed to restrain his excited giggle. Quin gave him a knowing look from the side, but he ignored it.

The bay door opened, and for a moment, Obi-Wan couldn’t see anything, but then everything came into focus.

There were three men standing a little ways off from the shuttle. Two of them were clones, painted yellow and blue respectively. Each stood at perfect attention, but Obi-Wan ignored them in favor of the man that stood between them. 

He had blond hair, and startlingly blue eyes. There was a scar running over his right eye, though he didn’t appear to have cybernetics. Anakin was taller than Obi-Wan would have guessed, but the most interesting thing was how the force seemed to dance around him. Anakin  _ burned _ in the force

Obi-Wan couldn’t move. Every muscle, every nerve was frozen in place. He had hoped for this moment for so long and now it was finally here. That was Anakin. 

Seemingly oblivious to Obi-Wan’s petrification (though the poke at his shields suggested otherwise), Quinlan sauntered down with a huge grin on his face towards the welcoming committee. 

Anakin raised an eyebrow. “No fancy entrance today, Vos? Some might think you were losing your touch,” Anakin snarked. 

“As if I need a dramatic opening to steal  _ your _ thunder, Skywalker,” Quin retorted.

They both stood in front of each other, seemingly trying to intimidate the other. It only lasted for a second before they both broke down laughing and enveloped each other in a hug. 

“I thought you were still on a mission!” Anakin exclaimed. Quinlan shrugged.

“Finished early,” he said. Anakin gave him a disbelieving look, before rolling his eyes. 

“If you are going to say it, then just say it,” he grumbled. 

Quinlan blinked innocently. “Say what?”

Anakin snorted. “Fine. Don’t say it, but why are you here and not at the temple?” 

Quin began checking his nails. “Got assigned to deliver supplies and drop some bombs,” he explained nonchalantly.

Anakin laughed. “Of course. What did you blow up this time?” 

Quinlan smirked. “Nothing yet, but I think that your brain is a good place to start.”

That was about when Obi-Wan’s limbs unfroze, and he managed to make his way off the ramp and towards them, barely making sure he didn’t stumble. Anakin looked over Quin’s shoulder at Obi-Wan and Ahsoka. 

“And what might that mean, Quin?” Anakin asked, his brows furrowing slightly.

Quinlan grinned. “I happen to be the lucky deliverer of two major bombshells to one Anakin Skywalker.” Gesturing to Ahsoka and Obi-Wan, Quinlan took a slight bow. “May I introduce my companions. This is Padawan Ahsoka Tano,” he paused, and Obi-Wan took a small breath. “And this is Obi-Wan Kenobi.”

Anakin’s blue eyes grew wide as he turned to face Obi-Wan. He could feel the other man’s eyes searching every part of his face. 

“Obi-Wan?” he whispered.

_ ANAKIN  _ Obi-Wan tapped, letting out a small smile.

One second.

Two.

Obi-Wan let out an  _ oomph _ as Anakin collided with him, wrapping him in the fiercest hug. He barely registered Ahsoka’s shock and Quinlan’s smugness as he stumbled backwards.

“It’s you. It’s you. It’s you,” Anakin repeated over and over again. 

Obi-Wan couldn’t say anything, or even tap it. He just clung to Anakin as tight as he could, reminding himself it was real. Everything just seemed to reaffirm that he wasn’t in the room anymore, but the fear that he would wake up and it would all be a dream was ever present. 

He felt the force wrap around them, and something clicked into place. Emotions that were almost overwhelming flooded into Obi-Wan’s awareness with a small gasp. Obi-Wan followed the new bond slightly down, and poked the awareness. Anakin’s face split into a blinding smile, and he poked back.

An awkward cough interrupted them. Anakin and Obi-Wan both let go and hastily swiped the evidence of matching tear tracks from their face. The confusion was obvious in all of the other people, except for Quinlan, who remained as smug as ever.

“‘M not sorry,” Anakin mumbled, still wiping at his eyes. Obi-Wan let out a wet laugh. That earned him a small smile. 

Then it seemed to hit Anakin. 

“What was the other bombshell?” He asked, straightening his tunics slightly. 

Quinlan’s grin was downright feral. 

“I told you this was Padawan Ahsoka Tano, right?” Anakin nodded slowly. “Well, turns out that she’s  _ your _ Padawan Ahsoka Tano. Congratulations, Ani. You’re a master!”

Obi-Wan barely caught Anakin as he fainted.


	2. CODY

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What’s this? A second update? Witch craft

Cody had a headache. Maybe he should grab some pain relievers if they dropped by the medbay later, but he had a feeling it wouldn’t help. 

Three new jedi had arrived with the supplies, the General had fainted, Rex got a commander, and so far, no one had bothered to explain what the heck was going on. 

_ “Cody, do you have any--” _

“Nope,” Cody said, cutting off Rex. It was in times like these that he was so grateful that the helmets had private comm channels. “There is nothing about this that makes sense.”

_ “Do you think one of the new arrivals is going to take over the 212th?” _ Rex asked.

“I have no idea, vod,” Cody murmured.

Jedi were… he couldn’t think of a word for it. Not suited for war? Peacekeepers? Whatever it was, Cody could attest to the fact that it got the Jedi killed. He had already lost three of his generals. The first one tried to negotiate with droids and got blasted in the face. The second one didn’t even leave enough of anything behind to be burned. The third… well, Jinn lasted the longest and his death was more of an honest battle casualty than anything, but still.

It was a rookie error that got him killed. 

He sized up the two new adult jedi in front of them. Both had minimal armor (a mistake), but they seemed to be in good enough health. The pale one looked a little out of it, but that was probably something to do with the reason General Skywalker reacted so strongly to seeing him, which Cody still had no context for. 

If one of them was going to be the replacement, Cody could only hope that they would survive longer than two weeks. 

Of course, that was when his comm began to beep. Withholding the sigh he wanted to let out, he accepted the call.

“Report,” he growled. 

_ “Sir, the Seppies are coming back and they have a ray shield.” _

The scout had even attached a picture from the binocs. 

Fantastic. Just fantastic. That was  _ exactly _ what he needed right now. 

Switching his helmet’s mic to the external speaker, he spoke out loud, “Sirs, we have incoming.”

Four Jedi's heads snapped to him. 

“Of course we do,” General Skywalker muttered, getting to his feet. “What’s headed our way?”

Cody remained impassive. “Few battalions of B-1’s, SBD’s, tanks, and a ray shield.”

General Skywalker cursed under his breath and pursed his lips. “We need a plan. The heavy cannons won’t be able to pierce the shield and as long as General Loathsom is still in command, the droids will just keep coming.”

Two other Jedi (Kenobi and Vos) exchanged glances, and General Kenobi tapped his thigh. General Vos whirled around at him.

“No. You aren’t talking me into this one,” Vos growled. General Kenobi raised an eyebrow and tapped his thigh again. It took Cody a moment to figure out what was going on. They were talking in code, or at least Kenobi was. 

  
Judging by the space between the taps, it was probably Morse Code. Cody had learned it as part of ARC training, so he started to pay attention to what was being communicated. 

_ \--UNNEL BEHIND THE ENEMY LINES AND DESTROY IT  _

Cody blinked. How in the blazes would they tunnel behind enemy lines?

“That… that could work,” General Vos muttered, his shoulders slumping. General Skywalker looked equally as displeased.

“You are going to take a small group with you though,” Skywalker announced. General Kenobi nodded his agreement. “Cody, get a squad of men. You’ll accompany Obi-Wan to the shields. Quin, you’ll work with the rest of the 212th, and I’ll go with the 501st. We’ll hold off the enemy as long as we can, and try and stall them until Obi-Wan disables the shield. Primary target will be General Loathsom. If we can get him, the rest of his troops will surrender.”

Cody nodded, and sent out a message to his squad in Ghost Company. 

“Let’s move out!”

_ “Oya!” _ went over the comms and Cody allowed himself a smile beneath his bucket. At least this would make sense. Shooting droids and disabling the shield. Easy peasy. There was a tap on his shoulder, and Cody turned around to come face to face with General Kenobi.

“Sir!” Cody said snapping to attention. The general waved.

_ DO YOU UNDERSTAND MORSE CODE?  _ Kenobi tapped. 

Cody nodded, but added, “Most of the rest of the men won’t.”

General Kenobi considered this for a moment, pursing his lips slightly, before clearing his throat and coughing slightly.

“Sorry,” the General rasped. Cody startled at the sound of his voice. “Speaking is difficult.”

Despite the scratchiness skewing it slightly, he could still make out a High Coruscanti Accent. 

_ WHERE ARE  _ the General began to tap before sighing in resignation. Clearly he wasn’t used to talking out loud. “Where are we meeting the men?”

“Follow me sir,” Cody said. Kenobi fell in pace beside him as they moved quickly through glass buildings. 

Suddenly, the General’s face jerked up, and he whirled around. A second later, there was a groan as one of the fallen Octuppara droids that had been leaning precariously against one of the buildings began to fall. Without a moment of hesitation, the General shot his hands forward. 

Two spires of rock shot out of the ground, catching the droid before it could drop more than two meters. The clones that the droid was about to fall on top of turned towards them. Cody found himself staring at General Kenobi too. 

When Kenobi realized all of the eyes were on him, his face flushed a red that matched his hair.

_ CAN WE KEEP GOING  _ he tapped. Cody nodded numbly. 

_ Compartmentalize. Deal with this later  _ He ordered himself. 

Eventually they made it to where the rest of the squad was waiting at the edge of the city. Each one of his men snapped to attention as they saw them approach. There were about nine of them standing there. 

“Hello there,” Kenobi rasped, before coughing to clear his throat. “Don’t be alarmed.” 

Cody only had a moment as the General shifted his stance, swirling his hands in a circle. The ground began to move, and as Kenobi pushed, the cobblestone fell away to reveal a tunnel that had  _ definitely  _ not been there before.

“Bending,” Kenobi said in lieu of explanation, before walking into the tunnel. Cody followed, unsure of what else. As they entered the tunnel, the General lifted up his hand, a small flame appearing barely an inch above his palm. Behind them, the entrance closed.

That was when it clicked. 

Bending… as in being an  _ Uvet’am. _ The  _ jetii  _ had an _ Uvet’am _ . The Mandalorian legends came through his head in a flash. He didn’t know many besides the ones Prime had bothered to teach them, but each one spoke of warriors of great renown. Wherever Fett was at this moment, when the news got out that the jedi had a bender, he was going to choke on his drink (at least Cody hoped he would)

The small fire lit up a fair distance down the tunnel, but Cody activated his light nonetheless. The ground rumbled, and the acceleration nearly threw him off balance. There were multiple  _ woahs _ and  _ ahhhhs _ as the dirt beneath them shifted. Suddenly, they were moving much faster through the tunnel. It was almost like riding a speeder, but without the handles. 

General Kenobi was in the middle of it, holding the flame in one hand, and swinging his arm forward in circles again and again, propelling them through the tunnel, until they stopped with a jerk, and Cody barely managed not to fall flat on his face. 

Most of the men hadn’t been as lucky.

“Oh,” Kenobi muttered sheepishly, “Sorry. I forgot to warn you.”

Yeah. He did. 

Another side of the tunnel opened up, and Kenobi moved forward through it. They all followed. Was there really anything else to do?

Kenobi coughed once more, before turning around. “It’s going to be bright,” he warned. 

Bright was an understatement. 

  
The glare nearly blinded Cody, before his HUD was able to adjust. The shield generator was up ahead, but a closer look pointed to different tripwires that probably launched all sorts of nasty surprises. 

“How are we going to get past those?” Someone asked from behind him. 

Cody readied his blaster. “They are just tripwires, so as long as we don’t touch any, the defenses won’t activate.”

General Kenobi nodded. “Let’s go,” he rasped. 

They all moved forward. Avoiding the wires was difficult, but manageable. At least it wasn’t pressure activated mines. Slowly but surely, they made their way towards the generator. One of the men tripped on the uneven rock, and Cody forgot to breathe for a moment. Thankfully, someone else caught him before he could fall. 

Cody let out a ragged breath of relief, and started to place charges. They made their way out of the blast zone, and Cody got the honor of hitting the detonator. 

The resulting explosion rocked the ground as the shield disappeared. A piece of debris slipped off and towards the ground. The General shot out a hand and the debris hung in the air, before being carefully settled back on the ruined mess that was the former generator. 

Cody loved the force.

Over to the other side, they heard a crash and the sound of droids activating. 

He had jinxed it. Of course.

Cody was firing before he was even fully aware of what was going on. The large demolition droids returned fire. As they moved towards the clones’ position, more were activated. This was just fantastic. 

From the corner of his eye, he could see one of his squadmates take a hit to the shoulder, and another had a shot to the arm. Letting loose a snarl and another round of volleys, Cody moved to get a better shot without debris in the way.

Suddenly, a huge chunk of the ground lifted, slamming into the droids, bowling over at least five. A giant rock wall lifted into the air, and promptly dropped, crushing ten more. 

Well, that just made Cody’s job a whole lot easier. 

The remaining droids were easy pickings. The squad medic, Snap, rushed over to the wounded, pulling out bactapatches from the medpac once the area was cleared. Cody thanked the Manda that there were only two injuries and no deaths. 

The gunships flying overhead signaled they had gotten even more reinforcements. Two stopped next to the ruined generator, and the tired group got on board. General Kenobi’s eyebrows were furrowed for some reason. 

Eventually they made their way into the center of the city where the fighting had happened. Cody ached to see the bodies of his brothers around, but, steeling himself, looked forward to where the gunship was about to land.

More surprise visitors.

Great.

The ship eventually landed, and all of them dismounted. Cody and General Kenobi moved to join General Vos, General Skywalker, Commander Tano, and Rex by a little tiny green troll? Goblin? Oh force, was that General Yoda?

The headache was back.

“Master Kenobi, successful your mission was?” General Yoda asked. 

“Yes, Master Yoda,” Kenobi said, bowing his head slightly. Cody stifled a laugh to see everyone jerk at his voice. It had gotten stronger as he had used it, and was coming out slightly clearer. 

“A mission we have for you all. To the Teth System, Skywalker and his new apprentice must go,” General Yoda explained. 

Skywalker voiced what everyone was thinking. “There haven’t been any droids reported near that sector.”

“Kidnapped, Jabba the Hutt’s son has been,” Yoda said, turning away slightly. His large green ears drooped a little bit. 

Skywalker stiffened. In a voice that sounded like a barely restrained snarl, he replied, “You want  _ me _ to rescue  _ Jabba the Hutt’s son?” _

There was some sort of history there, Cody guessed. Quinlan looked more thoughtful.

“It’s the hyperspace lanes, isn’t it?” He mused. “That’s the leverage?”

General Yoda’s ears drooped even further. “Correct, you are. Negotiate the treaty with the Hutts, you will. Locate the renegades holding Jamba’s son, you will, Skywalker and Padawan Tano.”

“Come on, Master!” Commander Tano said cheerfully. “It doesn’t sound that hard.” With that, she practically skipped towards one of the gunships. 

“She’s going to be a handful isn’t she?” Skywalker murmured. General Vos clapped him on the back.

“Good luck with that. If I could pull it off with Aayla, you can most certainly pull it off with her,” he replied with an enthusiasm that didn’t quite reach his eyes. They watched Skywalker go towards the gunship to catch up with his padawan.

General Yoda turned to General Kenobi. “With the 212th, you will stay until Master Vos’ return. Act as reinforcements for Skywalker, you shall, if need aid, he does.”

“Yes, Master,” Kenobi said, bowing. 

Cody frowned slightly. So they were the replacements. Well, at least it shouldn’t be too— no. He wasn’t going to continue that thought. He had already jinxed enough things today. 

Sighing in the privacy of his helmet, Cody mentally prepared himself. He had a feeling this was going to be a bumpy ride

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uvet’am = bender (literally means world changer (I smushed two words in mando’a together))
> 
> Who knew Mando’a had words for all the different elements?
> 
> Vheh = ground  
> Abiik = air  
> Tracyn = fire  
> Pirun = water
> 
> Makes my life easier.
> 
> Welp, in case you missed it, Jango Fett is alive because I have a great idea of what to do with him. This also means that Ponds will live unless I decide to kill him (but I like Ponds, so he isn’t going to die any time soon). 
> 
> GREVIOUS, OBI-WAN IS COMING FOR YOUR BRAND OF COUGHING AND RASPY VOICES
> 
> Teth is next probably (unsure of which perspective) and Anakin gets to keep Ahsoka. Hopefully he gets a nap on the way to wild space. Poor Obi-Wan just wanted to do a supply run to see his friend, but got roped into doing this whole thing. Quinlan is coming so Obi-Wan doesn’t do anything dumb that might kill himself. 
> 
> Also, if you recognize the dialogue from the last bit, that is because I stole most of it from the movie. Gotta keep some things consistent. 
> 
> THANK YOU AGAIN BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE!!!


	3. OBI-WAN

Obi-Wan tried to calm himself as he stepped off onto the gunship and back onto the ship. Quinlan wasn’t going to be there. Anakin would be on the Resolute. It would just be him on _ The Maverick _ .

That was okay.

He could do this. 

There was no reason to be tense. 

He was surrounded by people who wouldn’t hurt him. 

_ You never thought that Jinn could hurt you _ .

Now was  _ really _ not the time for this. He needed to find a place to mediate. Badly.

Slipping out of the hanger and towards where he guessed was a storage room, Obi-Wan stuck a corner of a crate in between the door so it wouldn’t close all the way and settled down in the center of the room, facing towards the entrance. 

He couldn’t let himself face anywhere else.

Obi-Wan allowed fire to form above his palms. The flames increased and decreased sporadically, matching the rapid pace of his heart. 

Control was the key. Normally it was easier, but everything was still so… different. He turned his concentration on stabilizing his inhales and exhales. He had learned early on that fire came from the breath. Slow and steady, his mind calmed.

As he breathed in and out, letting the force come in and his feelings bleed out, he went over the events of the day. 

In the room, Obi-Wan had never been in danger. Sure, it had been torturous and some days he questioned whether he wanted to keep on waiting, but that was the thing. Nothing besides himself could hurt him. 

It was safe.

It was safe in a way that he doubted anywhere else in the galaxy was.

Now Obi-Wan was in an active warzone where he could very well die. Obi-Wan could never lie to himself. He had spent too long in his own mind to be able to do that.    
  


The loss of life was jarring, even if he was not the one taking it. The force signatures being ripped from the force were a stab to the heart. Despite the main fight being klicks away from where he had been, he could feel the life growing dimmer.

As blaster fire had flown past his face, the danger had become suddenly very real. 

Obi-Wan had felt the fear rise up in his chest. He had barely been seconds away from lashing out in ways that could have hurt his companions. At the last possible moment, he reigned himself in and focused on bending the earth. 

Earth was steady and consistent. It was firm and resolute. 

Fire was less so.

On the more positive side, it did make an almost sure indicator on how calm he felt. 

Obi-Wan looked down at his hands now. The flames danced merrily and he almost smiled. He began wrapping more shields around his mind. As much as Obi-Wan loathed to block out more of the force, his sanity was just as important. Layer upon layer placed on top of each other reinforced the previously existing walls. 

He could reach out into the force still to see and he felt a bright signature nearing. 

Someone was coming. Obi-Wan quickly extinguished the flames. The door slid all the way open revealing… Cody.

“General?” the Commander asked. Obi-Wan felt his lips twitch and managed a small wave. “Are you alright?”

Obi-Wan began to tap, before he remembered.

Speaking. 

That was a thing. 

He cleared his throat awkwardly, feeling his cheeks pink slightly. Internally he cursed how pale he was. 

“Yes. I just needed some time to meditate and it was quiet over here,” he explained. At least his voice was definitely stronger than before. “Do you need anything?”

“Just wanted to alert you that we are a few hours away from the drop zone. General Skywalker’s holo briefing is in five minutes,” Cody reported. 

Right. Teth. Obi-Wan nodded, and got to his feet slowly to avoid a head rush. He followed Cody to the briefing room. To his dismay, this ship was a lot larger than the cruiser he had arrived in. Force, had he only landed on Christophsis this morning? It felt like ages ago.

The holo table already had the image of one Anakin Skywalker standing in the center, with Ahsoka slightly to his left. The knight’s face lit up when he saw Obi-Wan enter. Obi-Wan relished in the sight for only a moment before refocusing.

He cleared his throat. “What is your plan?”

Anakin grinned, and the image of a building on top of a large near vertical cliff climb appeared. 

_ “We know that the Hutt is in this monastery. Gunships will arrive from the North and drop the troops here.”  _ Anakin gestured towards a blinking red dot.  _ “We can scale the wall, secure the monastery, and be out of there in a jiffy.” _

The clones all nodded, and Obi-Wan nodded too, unsure if this was really such a good idea, or everyone was nodding for the sake of agreeing with the presenting jedi in the room. 

_ “Obi-Wan, you’ll act as back up in case something goes wrong,” _ Anakin said.  _ “If anyone sees a Sith show up, do  _ not _ engage. Contact me and Snips and we will take care of it.” _

Right. Sith. Quinlan had talked about that during the hyperspace trip here. They were apparently back. Obi-Wan suppressed a sigh. There was so much that had changed in twenty years. The week long trip of almost exclusively catching up barely scratched the surface. 

The image winked away and nobody moved. Obi-Wan looked to see what they were waiting for and realized all of their eyes were on him. 

“Um, you can all go now, I mean, if you want. Uh, yeah,” he trailed off uncomfortably.  _ FORCE GIVE ME STRENGTH  _ Obi-Wan tapped as he floundered. Cody’s amusement was seeping through the force in waves and he could feel his face burning. The rest of the men seemed to get the message and started to leave.

“Sir, should we discuss this further?” Cody said. 

  
“Yes, please,” Obi-Wan agreed, taking it as the rescue it was, and they moved to a more private planning room. The moment the door shut, he buried his face in his hands. “Force,” he groaned. “Cody, would you mind taking the lead next time?”

“No sir, it’s against protocol,” Cody replied perfectly evenly, but anyone could hear the smirk. Obi-Wan made a face. 

Protocol could burn in a hole for all he cared.

“It really should,” Cody agreed.

“I said that out loud, didn’t I?”

“Yessir.”

“Well, today is going fantastic isn’t it?” Obi-Wan muttered.

\--------------------------------------------

In hindsight, it was a terrible decision.

But then again, hadn’t the past week been just filled with those?

Obi-Wan cursed under his breath as the gunship shook. Flying into gunfire was awful. It was nothing short of a Force-blessed miracle that they were even in the air, but the 501st needed support  _ badly. _

The monastery was a trap. Anakin and Ahsoka were attempting to get the huttlet off-planet. Quinlan wouldn’t be arriving for who knows how long, and Obi-Wan could help. 

Probably.

But that wasn’t important. What was important was that he could feel souls screaming out before vanishing into the cosmic force and  _ he couldn’t do anything because he was stuck inside this flying death trap.  _

More shaking pushed him slightly off balance, but his white knuckled grip on the strap kept him from toppling over. 

Vaguely, he remembered that flying had been his least favorite subject. Being surrounded by metal and having nothing to bend was always nerve wracking. At least they had entered the atmosphere. He could feel the air rushing right outside of the ship, so in an emergency, they wouldn’t die… hopefully. 

It just occurred to him how much he was leaving up to chance in that moment.

_ “Be prepared for a quick dismount!”  _ The pilot yelled over the comms as they jerked to the side. 

Fast dismounts? Shouldn’t be a problem.

The ship skidded to a stop and the doors flew open. Obi-Wan wasted no time jumping out, summoning a little bit of wind to push him ahead of the troops. A quick appraisal had him seeing the ground was mostly stone. 

A smirk flashed across his face. 

_ This  _ he could work with. 

Stone slabs erupted from the ground to block the blaster fire and provide cover for the arriving troops. Droids fell into sink holes that hadn’t existed moments earlier. Stomping one foot and pushing, the ground beneath several B-1st turned around so they fired on their own troops.

Obi-Wan stifled a cry as lights blinked out in the Force, instead throwing all of his concentration into destroying the next line of droids. Up close was worse. It was almost like physical pain. 

Shoring up his meager shields with whatever concentration he could spare, he summoned a gust of air to push droids of the cliff and smash the remainder with some nearby rubble. 

Something was calling him inside the monastery.

The Force gently nudged him forward, and Obi-Wan flicked on his comm and cleared his throat. 

“Cody, there is something inside that I need to take care of,” he said, moving closer to the entrance, hand firmly gripped on his lightsaber. 

_ “Do you need back up, sir?” _ Came the Commander’s tinny voice. 

“Uh… I don’t think so,” Obi-Wan replied. “Give me ten minutes.”

Jogging towards the large metal door, he paused right as he entered. 

There was a woman standing there between two super battle droids. Judging by the anger and darkness practically rolling off of her, he cleverly deduced she wasn’t an ally. 

That... and also the red lightsabers. 

“Master Jedi, a pleasure to meet you,” she practically purred. “Come to clean up after Skywalker, have you?”

Something stirred in the back of his mind from the week crash course from Quinlan. 

  
  
  


_ Quinlan handed him yet another data pad. Obi-Wan flicked through it, surprised to see profiles.  _

_ “Who are these people?” Obi-Wan asked, looking up. Quinlan’s shoulders drooped the tiniest bit and he exhaled softly through his nose.  _

_ “They are known dark side users who are aiding the Seperatist Cause,” he explained. Obi-Wan noticed a familiar old man among them.  _

_ “So Master Dooku has really turned?” He whispered. The yellow eyes stared back at him, taunting. Quin shrugged.  _

_ “Not sure for how long, but he left the order not long after Naboo. He has an ‘assassin’, but she is really more of a Sith Apprentice,” Quin explained. He flipped to a new profile.  _

_ It was a bald dathomirian woman with strange purple tattoos. Obi-Wan read through her file quickly.  _

_ “Asajj Ventress… wait, two lightsabers?” He exclaimed. “She’s a Jar-Kai user?” _

_ Quinlan grimaced. “Yeah. She’s very proficient and could very easily slice people in half. Let’s just hope you don’t see her on the field,” He finished with false cheerfulness.  _

_ Obi-Wan nodded half heartedly, but then they moved on to discuss the Chancellor’s emergency powers.  _

  
  
  


Obi-Wan smiled to hide his increasing panic. He had read her casualty counts with the clones. If she joined the battle field out there, all would be lost. He needed to keep her attention on him.

“The pleasure is all mine, darling.”

The moment the words left his mouth, Obi-Wan wanted to die. _ Darling? What was he doing? _ Maybe his dignity was somewhat salvageable. “I suppose Anakin does make a lot of messes, doesn’t he?”

The woman… no Ventress, gave him a disbelieving look. “You’re interesting,” she decided. “But not interesting enough.”

She gave a signal, and the Super battle droids began to fire. Obi-Wan brought up his lightsaber just in time to block the blaster bolts. Out of the corner of his eye, he watched as Ventress fled.

Silently thanking Quinlan for forcing him to retrain at least some of his lightsaber skills, he dismantled the two droids. He looked around, but Ventress was nowhere to be seen. The Force kept nudging him forward.

Taking a deep breath, he made yet another terrible decision and followed its prompting.

Walking deeper into the monastery, the area opened up into a room reminiscent of the architecture in the Jedi temple with tall pillars and a large dome. Reaching out, the majority of it was made of stone. Obi-Wan could feel the darkness oozing into the air, though he couldn’t pinpoint it yet. 

A sudden thought popped in his head.

Ventress  _ didn’t _ know that he had less training than Ahsoka and was rustier than one of those ancient jedi artefacts that Master Nu guarded so zealously in the deep vaults. For all she was aware, he was a Jedi Master who had been training for thirty years. She also didn’t know he could bend.

The idea to draw her out began to take shape.

When he had been an initiate, there was a fellow trainee named Bruck Chun who used to bully him mercilessly, and would sometimes grow physically violent. Obi-Wan being Obi-Wan learned that fighting fire with fire was tiring, especially because Bruck had been bigger than him. 

Instead, he learned how to dodge. 

Obi-Wan couldn’t beat Ventress in a straight lightsaber fight, that was certain, but he might just be able to avoid it until he found an opportunity to take the upper hand and use his bending to stay alive. 

Personifying one of the stuffy masters that always used to grate on his nerves to no end, he called out, “Ventress, I know you’re here. You can’t hide. I can feel your frustration.”

In fact, he could feel her frustration. It swept up, ready to consume everything in its path. She only needed one more push to go over the edge. He mentally prepared himself to be attacked from whatever angle.

“Let me guess, you’re after Jabba’s son too.”

A war cry echoed in the darkness and Obi-Wan ignited his saber to block two red blades from removing his arms from his torso. Ventress flipped away, but as she landed, threw…  _ was that her skirt? _

Summoning a gust of wind to move it out of the way, he was two seconds away from losing limbs again. Her attacks were fierce, and what she lacked in skill, she made up for in sheer brutality. 

In a few quick strikes, his lightsaber flew out of his hands.

“Oh,” he muttered. Ventress began to swipe at his face, but he ducked each blow out of instincts that had been so ingrained, it was practically impossible for him to forget, even years later.

The strikes forced him to back up against a pole.

“Now you die,” she snarled.

“Well, I’d rather not,” Obi-Wan retorted. She let out a cry as she jabbed her lightsaber forward, but Obi-Wan ducked, leaving the red blade to pierce empty air. Ventress took a step forward, and at that moment, Obi-Wan had a small block of stone rise up and the dathomirian tripped. He force pushed her away, and then stood up, summoning his lightsaber.

The few moments of breath were over far too quickly before two red lightsabers started doing their best to decapitate him. As Obi-Wan blocked yet another strike, it felt like he was dissociating as he gave himself more into the Force in order to stay in the fight.

Above him, he spotted a walk way.  _ High Ground. _

Bouncing off of the two pillars, he used another gust of air to propel himself to the walkway, and moved out of the way as Ventress used the Force to jump where he just stood. 

Obi-Wan hadn’t used this much force or energy in a long time and he could feel strain on his muscles. If he didn’t have Force exhaustion after this, he would eat his kyber crystal. 

“We know your plan to turn the hutts against us,” he announced, attempting to stall for time. It was a sort of guess, but by the slight widening of her eyes, he had hit the nail on the head. “It won’t work.”

“It will when the truth dies with you,” Ventress snarled, red light illuminating her angry scowl. More fast attacks, and Obi-Wan barely managed to stay on the defensive. 

He couldn’t win, and he was getting tired. In any gaps between dodging red death and blocking harsh blows, he scanned the area for an escape. To his left, he could see moonlight falling through a window and taking a chance, he jumped through it. 

Thank the Force that there was a balcony beneath the window. 

The fight continued across another walkway above a drop that he couldn’t even see the bottom of. Apparently Ventress’s lightsabers could morph into a saber staff.

Block, back up, dodge, back up, block, block, dodge, back up, back up.

There was no time for him to think about bending. The blows came fast and furious. Sweat began to trickle down the back of his neck, but out of pure will or spite, he kept going. A lucky strike separated back the two blades. Obi-Wan let himself melt into the Force more and more until he was barely aware of his own body. 

Maybe that was why he picked it up.

_ Anakin left the system. He had the huttlet.  _

Ventress’s angry stance froze for a moment, and Obi-Wan seized the opportunity.

“You feel it too,” he smirked. “Anakin is gone. You failed, Ventress.”

Maybe taunting the deadly assassin wasn’t the best idea. 

As she double timed her attacks. Quinlan’s information tickled at the back of his head. She was-- _ block _ \--the apprentice. That meant that _ \--duck-- _ she had been sent by her master. What was it that Yoda had said about how Sith relationships work? 

Obi-Wan and Ventress came into bladelock.

Taking a gamble, he smiled, despite the ache in his bones. “Your master will not be pleased,” he said. 

Ventress stiffened minutely, and Obi-Wan was able to knock one of her lightsabers out of her hand and over the rail. With only one lightsaber, she backed up.

“Jedi scum,” she growled, before rushing him. 

At this point, it was all he could do to stay alive. Even with one blade she was deadly. Obi-Wan pushed her back and lifted another block, to trip her. The dathomirian assassin went sprawling. 

“There’s no point in fighting any longer,” Obi-Wan announced, sounding much more cool and confident than he felt. It was a bluff, but he had survived this long, so maybe she would fall for it. “We’ve won. Lay down your weapon.”

If it was even possible, the furrow in her brow increased, but a beep distracted both of them. A vulture droid swooped down beneath the railing, and Ventress jumped off, landing directly on top. 

Obi-Wan watched as they flew off. He needed to check on the rest of the troops. The other droids should be destroyed by now. 

Across the walkway, he spotted an ignited green lightsaber rushing towards him. The familiar dreadlocks and facial tattoos of his best friend came into view even as the world blurred.

“Hello there,” Obi-Wan said cheerfully, and the world went dark. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...Hello there.
> 
> So yes, I am not dead. Surprise!
> 
> Life is annoying, rabbit holes are the worst, constant online communication sucks, and all I wanted was a nap.
> 
> For those who follow my other stories, I am working on updating those too. 
> 
> Anyway, so we have our first encounter with Sith! Yay! All bending done was relatively minor, so Ventress didn't really notice it. Palps stays in the dark for another day. Hoorah!
> 
> Obi-Wan lives another day! Whoop whoop! I like to think of Kenobi luck in terms of "Everything that can go wrong will go wrong, but somehow it all works out in the end in ways that you wouldn't necessarily expect or want"
> 
> Quinlan arrived just a tad bit later than Obi-Wan did in canon (reasons for that are simple. Obi-Wan, the smooth talker negotiating vs Quinlan, "LET'S BREAK DOWN THE DOOR" negotiating have a significant time difference)
> 
> So yeah. Snazzy. Great to see you guys again. Thanks for reading. Bye y'all!

**Author's Note:**

> You know what I was really tempted to do?
> 
> wait for Anakin to realize who it is until the next chapter.
> 
> But I am not that mean and I realized that Obi-Wan would want to reveal himself as soon as possible.
> 
> ALRIGHTY
> 
> Obi-Wan is going to start speaking soon because not everyone understands Morse Code. Ahsoka is very confused, and Quinlan is the worst. We love them all. 
> 
> Next up should be an also very confused Cody and some lore :)
> 
> I might post the second chapter later today (it's like halfway done), and each of these are going to be shorter than the usual length as I am writing until the perspective is no longer applicable.
> 
> THANK YOU FOR ALL THE SUPPORT AND STUFF AND AHHHHHHH I LOVE YOU ALL!! 
> 
> (Recommendations and ideas are ALWAYS welcome)


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